Personal Narrative: Growing Up In Hawaii

“He Hawai’i au mau a mau.” This translates to, “I am Hawaiian now and forever.” I believe that this represents my identity not only as a person, but as a proud Native Hawaiian. My passion sparked when I was a baby. My mother first taught me how to say basic words in Hawaiian, then I eventually attended a Hawaiian immersion school. Since I grew up in a Hawaiian based environment, I have learned to love and preserve the language. Today, there are a few Hawaiians who know our mother language because our language is gradually dying. Not only did I learn the Hawaiian language, but the Hawaiian culture. I also grew up dancing hula. When we performed, we needed a specific plant for a particular mele (song), so we had to go pick them ourselves.

Imagine sitting on the white sandy beaches gazing out into the beautiful blue-green water. You can hear the waves crashing against the shore, and smell the salty ocean water. Life is perfect. In my short life time of 13 years I have gone on a few vacations, but my favorite by far was a cruise in Hawaii. That trip was so amazing because I got to visit four beautiful Hawaiian islands, and experience many amazing activities. In Oahu I was able to swim with dolphins, visit Pearl Harbor, swim at the beach, and shop. After Oahu we stopped by Maui where I went snorkeling, ate at a traditional luau, and saw the sun rise from the top of an inactive volcano. That was amazing and I thought it surely couldn’t be topped, but it was when I visited the big island and Kauai. I went to a black sand beach, did amazing shopping, and went zip lining. The ziplining in Kauai was such a fun activity. When my trip finally came to a close I was reluctant to leave, but happy to have the memories of this spectacular vacation.

I believe the 4-H has played a big part in who I am today. To completely explain what 4-H means to me, I would have to start at the very beginning, so that is what I am going to do.

I grew up in a military family so, we lived in various places. In Tennessee, it got very cold and snowed every winter. In Hawaii, we near the edge of a volcano crater. We ate mochi and musubi almost every day. I went to high school in Georgia. For me, the South was so different from the laid-back pace of Honolulu but, in some ways, they had a lot in common. Savannah, GA has beaches and islands scattered near it 's coastline. Hawaii and Georgia each are obsessed with their regional fruits. Both places are filled with military servicemen and their families. Needless to say, I don 't feel like I truly have a "hometown" but, instead, I can make any town my home.

It is no secret that golf has changed my life in many positive aspects over the short time I have been playing. Golf has given me many things to think about in my life. It has changed the way I approach things and how I make good decisions that give me a positive outcome. Many positive events have been able to change my life over the past few years, because I started golf.

I grew up as a military brat so being in one place for my whole childhood was not an option. I grew up in the company of my family. Mom 's southern cooking and my brothers ' destructiveness was the community I lived in. Out of all the places I have lived my three favorite are Washington, Florida, and Oklahoma.

Life as a Native American sucks. I realized this when I was a little kid. I’ve come to accept that what other people label or describes us as are true. I’m not happy to admit this they are right. My people don’t do anything to prove these people’s claims, or better known as stereotypes, about Native Americans wrong. Instead they do the complete opposite and just give these people all the reasons why they are right about how Native Americans are. I realized how my people being called as alcoholic, poor, and uneducated are all sadly true. For example, on New Year’s eve, my family had a big party which was suppose to be fun. It was suppose to be a good get-together family party, but as expected it wasn’t like that at all. My two uncles, named Adolph and Arnold, got into a very bloody fistfight with each other due to all of the drinking that they had. As a

Growing up as Hmong-American youth, I was raised by a father who joined the military when he was twelve years old. He was forced into the Vietnam war fighting for safety, peace, and a relationship with the United States of America. Through this military influence and discipline at such a young age, my father accepted the military lifestyle. He carried it over from the Vietnam war to my family today. Growing up, my father was always strict on me, especially when it came to my appearances and education. Indeed, if people saw how my father raised me, they would think he was a typical, stereotype Asian father who wanted his son to get A’s. But, to me, it was not anything like that. Instead, I saw that my father wanted me to do well in education because he understood that this world has a system, and by being successful in the education system, I can survive in any system since the education system is by far one of the

“FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.” These words from the FFA motto, is what this great program is all about. I have been involved with this great organization ever since I was in 7th grade and since then, FFA has made a positive impact on my life. FFA stands for “Future Farmers of America”, it is for students that want to be involved in agriculture, and leadership. This great organization is based on agricultural education that provides life-changing experiences for its members. The opportunities that are offered are endless. Anything you can think of, to a certain extent has something involved with this great organization. It’s open to middle, and high school students, as well if involved can be college students. This program is not just for a bunch of farm guys that wear cowboy boats, its relatable for students that live in town, and don’t have livestock or crops as well. This great organization is based on agricultural education that provides life-changing experiences for its members. Although, some Iowa schools do not have an agriculture program, the FFA

Special Olympics has taught me a variety of life skills. These skills include leadership, patience,

“Ma 'am, I 'm gonna try my hardest ta keep myself straight. I might’ve fell off the wagon, but I’s got back up, didn 't I?”

Growing up I always knew my mindset was far past my years. The way my mind worked was different and older than those kids around me, so it was no surprise for me to be on my own right from the get go after turning 18. For as long as I can remember I have always done everything by myself especially school related. My parents are Hispanic and speak little English, making me the first person in my family to attend college. My parents brought me to the United States from Mexico at the age of four and I have lived in Oklahoma ever since. This is home. Being brought here as a toddler, now makes my status here in the U.S. a resident of Oklahoma thanks to the differed action known as DACA. This does put a set back on my plans to attend college because

Growing up in the United States from a very young age made me stray away from my Indian heritage, so in 2008, my parents saw the need to send my siblings and me to India in order to replenish the Indian culture in us. Initially, I had no idea as to how long we were going to live in India for, but by the third year, all I wanted was to come back to New York. Everything in India was just so different, convoluted and fruitless; just because I was American, I was treated differently–both negatively and positively. Peo

I was born on Oahu in February 4 2005 i was growing up in tampa Florida with my older sister and my mom,dad,grandma,grandpa,and my mom’s siblings. Me and my sister had always went to her friends house every day,one day me and my sister had went to her house and there was a rattlesnake on the outer side of her door and then me and my sister had went home.

I was at school happily living in Australia on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. It was 2011, and I went to a school called Pacific Paradise State School. It was my second year going there, and I was in the third grade. My big sister, Lucy, had been doing band the last year, and now again. I wanted to do band, as they were for the first time, letting third graders in the band, so I asked her,